Botryomycosis

Abstract

There is considerable confusion about the origins of the dermatosis known as botryomycosis. Some say it was first described by Bollinger in 1870 as a disease of horses’ lungs, while others claim it was originally recognized by veterinary surgeons as a fungating granuloma found in horses as a complication of castration. In either case, the name was not used until many years after Bollinger’s description: it was coined because granules seen in the pus somewhat resembled a bunch of grapes. To add to the confusion, Radcliffe Crocker used the same name to describe what is now known as granuloma pyogenicum, but this cherry-red tumor has nothing to do with the condition nowadays called botryomycosis.